Article and Photo courtesy of FLINTRIDGE PREPARATORY SCHOOL
MARCH 31, 2020

A group of Prep faculty and staff banded together last week to gather all the school’s personal protective equipment (PPE) supplies and donate them to local hospitals.

With the COVID-19 outbreak impacting hospitals, urgent care facilities, and other medical facilities across the globe, the Los Angeles Times reported on Monday that numerous healthcare providers were asking non-profits, companies, and others to donate gloves, surgical masks, and N95 respirator masks to help increase the dwindling stockpile of protective gear.

Prep’s Director of Finance, Kim Kinder, aware of the shortage, reached out to Director of Special Projects Nick Adams-Wright to assess supplies Prep might be able to donate. Adams-Wright contacted some connections at Exer Urgent Care and Huntington Hospital/Keck Medical Center USC, to see if they were taking donations of masks and gloves. They wholeheartedly welcomed the extra supplies.

“I asked our Science Department Chair, Laura Kaufman, if we could gather her department’s supply of gloves for donation,” Adams-Wright shared. Not only did Kaufman emphatically agree, but she had already had the same idea. Adams-Wright collected gloves typically used by students in their science labs, as well as gloves, surgical masks and N95 respirator masks in the school’s emergency supply container.

On Tuesday, Adams-Wright delivered 3,400 pairs of gloves and 460 masks to the Exer Urgent Care facility in La Cañada Flintridge. He gave 3,400 pairs of gloves and 460 masks to Dr. Janak Chandrasoma, an anesthesiologist with Keck USC who is a former Prep Science faculty member.

If you have a story to share about how members of the Prep community are contributing to their local, national, or global community during this time, let us know by emailing communications@flintridgeprep.org.